MMDown Under

That seems irresponsible advice to go to the medical centre on last sea day for testing. All medical centres on land say not to visit medical centre if you have covid. I agree with elquincey, it is not a good time to book b2b cruises.

MSC had the best entertainment of any cruise ship I've cruised on. It was first class, because it was limited by language what it could offer.

I brought little leftover shampoo and conditioner bottles with me. However, I love those shampoo and conditioner bars which are so convenient for travel. We bought ours in Northern NSW on our last land trip. This one must have smelt beautiful.

do they all leave about the same time?

I noticed a lot of shops were short staffed. In Port Douglas two dress shops were closed with sign saying due to staff shortages. This was when a cruise ship was in port.

I'll have to get my map out. I love scenic driving south of Hobart. I stay at Frankston, so am familiar with Huonville and Cygnet. I attend the bi-annual Wooden Boat Festival, which is back on this year.

No single supplement was the big attraction of Carnival Luminosa's deals for solo travellers.

What is the solo price?

Your comments reminded me that all my relatives were on the land. Apart from the big summer school holidays when we holidayed in the North, all my other school holidays were spent on farms. Now they have all been consolidated into bigger farms.

I would be worried if I was a future passenger. Hope they keep their passengers informed.

Received new passport, Monday, 19/12. Took 19 days excellent service. Now I can dream again!!

What was the airline? I'm loosing more respect for Qantas every day. It is certainly not the National Carrier. How could they charge more for economy than another airline charge for business class on same flight? I saw current check in was 90 min for Brisbane Airport. Not a good time to be flying. Was a luxury to cruise on 4/12 from Brisbane Cruise Port with my daughters dropping me off. One daughter dropped my luggage off and I had personal service checking in all the way downstairs, with no queues (joy of last check in period), then lift upstairs for final check in. Impressive start to a cruise. Have a wonderful time catching up with your Kiwi family, Julie and a great cruise. Looking forward to your comments on Westerdam.

What a coincidence. I hadn't heard of Buy a Bale. I donate to CWA who give all the donation to rural communities (without taking any administration fees). They give vouchers to people to use in their local shops so rural people in need shop locally. They found when the banks go, people shop in the towns with the banks, and local businesses suffer. I wonder what is going to happen now with even more banks closing throughout Australia.

Yes it is a shame because I enjoy the musical productions on cruises. However, I decided to make the most of my balcony in the fresh air on my last cruise. I usually cruised in inside cabins, so this was a real novelty for me. It was beautiful on the balcony at the break of day. I would get a half a pizza cooked to order and a fresh cup of tea and soak up the atmosphere. We were lucky to have hot weather and smooth seas, perfect weather for the balcony.

Would passengers with travel insurance which covers missed ports receive compensation? Kangaroo Island is such a unique place there would have been much disappointment missing that special port.

RAT testing on Carnival Splendor at 9 am after first night of the cruise 5/12 - 15/12 is interesting. I was on Carnival Luminosa cruise from 4/12 - 11/12, where there was no RAT testing on morning after first night of the cruise. I wonder why the different Carnival policy. A woman on my evening table of 5 tested positive after she disembarked and is still positive. (Yes we all wore masks when not dining.)

I wonder if they will stop spoiling old ships, by adding extra cabins etc., now that it is harder to fill all the big ships post covid. I love small ships, but I also love old ships with wrap around promenade decks with deck chairs.

The five people at our table all wore masks but not at dinner. The others went to entertainment after dinner. I only attended one event for ten mins.

I understand it must be hard for Americans visiting Australia not to tip because a tip is expected from Americans.

A woman on our evening table tested positive after she disembarked. She is still positive.

I hope it won't be one of those ships where they speak a lot of different languages!

How can Princess get away with the lack of quality entertainment? Surely this is a given part of cruising! If the reason was entertainers were sick from Covid, they should tell passengers. Being in your groups is part of the fun of trivia.

One of the women on our table of five at night tested positive when she returned home.

Thank you for sharing your cruise experiences. Looks like you fitted a lot into your week's cruise and had a wonderful time on Luminosa. Like you, I'd be happy to cruise on Luminosa again,

It is nice to make special memories of things you wouldn't do normally. Bucket of cold prawns with a long lime and ginger!